Battle of Port Arthur

The Battle of Port Arthur was the first battle of the Russo-Japanese War, fought from 8 to 9 February 1904 between the Imperial Japanese Navy and the Imperial Russian Navy off Port Arthur on China's Liaodong peninsula. The Japanese attack was inconclusive, starting a war which would result in a decisive Japanese victory.

Background
Following the Triple Intervention of 1895, Japan was forced to cede the Liaodong peninsula (which it had gained from China in the First Sino-Japanese War) to the Russian Empire; the Russians proceeded to secure a 25-year lease on Port Arthur, giving the Imperial Russian Navy a much-needed warm-water port in the Pacific.

The Boxer Rebellion of 1899-1900 led to the Imperial Russian Army expanding its presence in East Asia, and Russia occupied Manchuria as part of the peace terms. By now, the other Great Powers were worrying about the balance of power in East Asia, and, in 1902, Japan and the United Kingdom concluded an alliance against Russia. In 1903, Japan drastically expanded the size of the Imperial Japanese Navy in preparation for a showdown with Japan. A year later, Russia rejected Japan's demands to demilitarize Manchuria, and, on 6 February 1904, Japan severed diplomatic relations with Russia.

Battle
Czar Nicholas II of Russia immediately ordered the commander of the Russian fleet at Port Arthur, Oskar Starck, to not fire the first shots, so that Japan would be seen as the aggressor. On 8 February, Japan declared war on Russia, but the declaration of war did not reach Saint Petersburg until the next morning. Immediately following the Japanese declaration of war, the Japanese admiral Heihachiro Togo set out to destroy the Russian fleet at Port Arthur before it could be reinforced by the fleets in the Baltics and Black Sea; the Russian fleet was passive, as it intended to await the arrival of the other Russian fleets.

At midnight on 8 February, Togo's destroyers closed in on the port and torpedoed several Russian ships; the battleships Tsesarevich and Retvizan were heavily damaged and towed to be repaired. Togo hoped that the Russians were now panicking, and, at noon on 9 February, he attacked the Russian fleet. However, the Russian fleet and coastal batteries were prepared, and Togo's ships were forced to withdraw after coming under heavy fire. The Japanese now set up a blockade around Port Arthur, and, on 7 March, Starck was replaced by Stefan Makarov.